Arsenal vs Norwich City. Premier League.
Emirates Stadium.
Report as Arsenal move up to seventh in the Premier League with a third straight win in all competitions; Wolves vs Arsenal live on Sky Sports on Saturday (kick-off 5.30pm)
Thursday 2 July 2020 06:18, UK
Arsenal boosted their chances of securing European football for next season with a comprehensive 4-0 win over relegation-threatened Norwich.
The Gunners again benefited from some poor goalkeeping as Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang capitalised on Tim Krul's error to open the scoring before Granit Xhaka finished a fine move to double his side's advantage at the break.
Aubameyang extended the lead after the break with his 19th Premier League goal of the season, pouncing on another unforced error from the visitors before Cedric Soares made an instant impact on his Arsenal debut to seal a big win for Mikel Arteta's side.
Victory sees Arsenal move above rivals Tottenham into seventh, six points behind sixth-placed Wolves ahead of the Gunners' crucial clash at Molineux, which is live on Sky Sports on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Norwich's survival hopes are hanging by a thread. Defeat leaves Daniel Farke's side six points adrift of safety with six games remaining.
Arsenal dominated possession from the first whistle as Norwich needed Krul to keep out Aubameyang's well-struck shot in the 10th minute.
The visitors were struggling to lay a glove on the Gunners, but they were inches away from taking the lead against the run of play when Ben Godfrey's thunderbolt of a strike from 30 yards clipped the outside of Emiliano Martinez's post.
However, Arsenal would take the lead shortly after the half-hour mark. Just like Eddie Nketiah's opener at Southampton last week, they capitalised on an error from the opposing goalkeeper as Krul dwelt on the ball for too long before hitting his clearance straight at Aubamayang, who had the easiest of tasks, rolling the ball home into an empty net.
The lead was doubled moments later as David Luiz's inch-perfect diagonal pass picked out Kieran Tierney on the left flank. The Scot played in Aubameyang, who cut the ball back for Xhaka to rifle past Krul for his first goal of the season.
Arsenal needed a fine save from Martinez to keep out Kenny McLean's free-kick just before the break and the goalkeeper was called into action again moments after the restart, saving substitute Adam Idah's powerful low effort.
Idah was part of a triple substitution from Farke, who brought on Josip Drmic and Onel Hernandez, and the changes sparked the visitors into life.
However, another defensive lapse ended any hope of a resurgence as Drmic turned the ball inside into his own box and straight into the path of Aubameyang, who made no mistake for his second of the night.
Then came the icing on the cake for Arsenal as Soares, signed on loan in January and permanently last week, came off the bench for his first appearance following injury.
And the former Southampton man needed just four minutes to mark his debut with a goal, powering a left-footed strike past Krul from the edge of the penalty area to wrap up a big win for Arteta's men.
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta on Aubameyang: "The way he works everyday he decided to get better. Hopefully he's here for longer. He can see what we are trying to do and hopefully he can evolve."
When asked about a new deal for his captain, he added: "I leave that to the football club. Auba knows really well my thoughts towards him, the project I want to create and that I want him in that. I am positive and I will remain positive but things have to progress."
Aubameyang celebrated another impressive night's work in trademark fashion...
Aubameyang's opener was his 50th Premier League goal in just 79 appearances, with only five players managing to do so at a quicker rate than the Arsenal skipper (Fernando Torres, Mohamed Salah (72), Ruud van Nistelrooy (68), Alan Shearer (66) and Andy Cole (65).
Since joining Arsenal back in 2018, Aubameyang has scored 14 goals in 14 games against sides starting the day in the Premier League relegation zone, netting a brace both home and away versus Norwich this season.
Arsenal head coach Mikel Arteta: "It's been a really difficult season since I joined with the amount of games that we've had in December and then the break that we've had in lockdown, but they are so willing and they are completely onboard with what we are trying to do. A lot of things that happened today will convince them even more that this is the right direction for us to take as a team, and we still have to work on many things like the way we handle the game in certain moments. We cannot give anything to the opponent and we gave that again tonight, but overall I'm really happy with the attitude and as well with their understanding of the game and what the game requires for them to control it and exploit the opponent as much as we can.
Norwich boss Daniel Farke: "The first and third goals, we invited them in. You cannot do that in key moments of the game. They punished us. We made too many mistakes. After a 4-0 defeat I am not willing to give any fighting messages. We have to focus on our mistakes and put them right. We never give up, but we have always been honest and realistic. As long as we have a chance, we keep going."
Norwich are back in action on Saturday when they host Brighton at Carrow Road at 12.30pm before Arsenal travel to Wolves on Saturday at 5.30pm, live on Sky Sports Premier League and Sky Sports Main Event.
